the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out

So you want to tap into the Minneapolis, MN Medical Device industry, aka 'Medical Alley'? Although this is a huge and rapidly growing industry, it seems impossible to tap into unless you already have medical device experience!

As a Technical Recruiter, I have actually had great success placing folks into medical device companies who had little or no medical device experience at all! How did I do it? I would be lying if I said it was easy, but then again, I would be lying if I said it was hard! It seems to me that the number one most important skill that medical device companies look for is folks with strong experience in a HIGHLY REGULATED INDUSTRY!

Let's say that you are currently a Manufacturing Engineer at a foods processing facility. Although food and medical device aren't similar in the product sense (actually, one is the cause of the other!), they still have one thing very closely in common: they are both regulated by the FDA. So this tells me that the Manufacturing Engineer probably has experience with FDA Audits, documentation trails a mile long, and possibly experience with ISO and/or QS standards.

Here's another example; this time let's use a Electrical Engineer from the telecomm industry. She has strong experience working with wireless devices that utilize RF technology. Many implantable and non implantable devices utilize RF to communicate problems that the patient may have experienced. Actually, the telecomm industry usually develops the technologies that, once perfected, the medical device industry implements.

One last example; this time let's use a Design Drafter from a heavy equipment industry. Now when you think heavy equipment, you probably think of John Deere tractors or CAT paving equipment. This Design Drafter actually does the dashboard controls and instrumentation. He works with electromechanical piece parts, wiring, switches, and plastics. He doesn't work with large transmissions, engines, and exhaust systems (although there is easily an argument to be made for a person with that experience who wants to get into BioMed). The parts that he works with are very similar to those used in pacemakers, patient monitoring systems, and a host of other medical related goodies.

Okay, we know all of this now, but HOW DO WE GET THE HIRING MANAGER OR HR TO SEE IT?!?! You are right, this often needs to be black and white for the hiring authorities. If your resume doesn't have the word 'Pacemaker' on it, or the phrase 'ISO 14385', it's likely going to be tossed out! Thats where 'informational interviews' come in! What are informational interviews, you may be thinking to yourself right now. They are simply that, interviews strictly for the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out

that you are currently a Manufacturing Engineer at a foods processing facility. Although food and medical device aren't similar in the product sense (actually, one is the cause of the other!), they still have one thing very closely in common: they are both regulated by the FDA. So this tells me that the Manufacturing Engineer probably has experience with FDA Audits, documentation trails a mile long, and possibly experience with ISO and/or QS standards.

Here's another example; this time let's use a Electrical Engineer from the telecomm industry. She has strong experience working with wireless devices that utilize RF technology. Many implantable and non implantable devices utilize RF to communicate problems that the patient may have experienced. Actually, the telecomm industry usually develops the technologies that, once perfected, the medical device industry implements.

One last example; this time let's use a Design Drafter from a heavy equipment industry. Now when you think heavy equipment, you probably think of John Deere tractors or CAT paving equipment. This Design Drafter actually does the dashboard controls and instrumentation. He works with electromechanical piece parts, wiring, switches, and plastics. He doesn't work with large transmissions, engines, and exhaust systems (although there is easily an argument to be made for a person with that experience who wants to get into BioMed). The parts that he works with are very similar to those used in pacemakers, patient monitoring systems, and a host of other medical related goodies.

Okay, we know all of this now, but HOW DO WE GET THE HIRING MANAGER OR HR TO SEE IT?!?! You are right, this often needs to be black and white for the hiring authorities. If your resume doesn't have the word 'Pacemaker' on it, or the phrase 'ISO 14385', it's likely going to be tossed out! Thats where 'informational interviews' come in! What are informational interviews, you may be thinking to yourself right now. They are simply that, interviews strictly for the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out

ices utilize RF to communicate problems that the patient may have experienced. Actually, the telecomm industry usually develops the technologies that, once perfected, the medical device industry implements.

One last example; this time let's use a Design Drafter from a heavy equipment industry. Now when you think heavy equipment, you probably think of John Deere tractors or CAT paving equipment. This Design Drafter actually does the dashboard controls and instrumentation. He works with electromechanical piece parts, wiring, switches, and plastics. He doesn't work with large transmissions, engines, and exhaust systems (although there is easily an argument to be made for a person with that experience who wants to get into BioMed). The parts that he works with are very similar to those used in pacemakers, patient monitoring systems, and a host of other medical related goodies.

Okay, we know all of this now, but HOW DO WE GET THE HIRING MANAGER OR HR TO SEE IT?!?! You are right, this often needs to be black and white for the hiring authorities. If your resume doesn't have the word 'Pacemaker' on it, or the phrase 'ISO 14385', it's likely going to be tossed out! Thats where 'informational interviews' come in! What are informational interviews, you may be thinking to yourself right now. They are simply that, interviews strictly for the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out

or a person with that experience who wants to get into BioMed). The parts that he works with are very similar to those used in pacemakers, patient monitoring systems, and a host of other medical related goodies.

Okay, we know all of this now, but HOW DO WE GET THE HIRING MANAGER OR HR TO SEE IT?!?! You are right, this often needs to be black and white for the hiring authorities. If your resume doesn't have the word 'Pacemaker' on it, or the phrase 'ISO 14385', it's likely going to be tossed out! Thats where 'informational interviews' come in! What are informational interviews, you may be thinking to yourself right now. They are simply that, interviews strictly for the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out

the purpose of gathering information. You would secure an interview with a manager or employee of a particular group that you would want to work in. For the Manufacturing Engineer we discussed, she would talk to someone in the manufacturing group of the organization that she is targeting. For the Design Drafter, he would go to the Drafting group.

You get the idea. You would come to the interview prepared with questions about the industry, your resume, and lots of examples of how your work could relate to what they are doing in the medical industry. You would also set the time-line for the interview at 15 minutes (no worries, they aren't really going to kick you out in 15 minutes!). The purpose of all of this is that you want to collect info on how they (the person you are talking to) got into the industry, what skills sets they see important to be successful in the industry, where the industry is going, etc. You aren't trying to actually get a job with them (unofficially you actually are!).

I personally think this is one of the best, if not THEE best, avenue to transition into the medical device industry. I could easily go on and on about informational interviewing, or the medical device industry, but thats why I wrote a whole eBook (free, btw) on the subject of tapping into the unpublished job market! For more information or for your copy of the book, point your browser to http://www.smallbiz-mechanic.com/ebook.php

Good luck to you in your search!